Fennel Salad

Fennel is one of those vegetables I never ate before I found out about all my allergies and had to come up with new veggies.  It's now one of my favorites!  This salad is quick to make and satisfies that "crunchy urge" I sometimes get.

Fennel Salad - makes 2 servings
1 large bulb fennel
2 T olive oil
2 T lemon juice
salt
white pepper

Trim the top and bottom from the fennel and slice in half.  If you have any fronds still attached, reserve about 1/4 cup for garnish.  One half at a time, slice the fennel as thinly as you can with a sharp knife.  Combine the rest of the ingredients and toss with the fennel.  Sprinkle with reserved chopped fronds.  You can eat this right away or let it marinate in the refrigerator for about 1/2 hour.

Variations:  This is also good with thinly sliced radishes or apples added.  And I had a variation of it at a restaurant where the fennel was julienned and mixed with julienned apples and sliced green grapes.

Apple/Beet Salad

When you're allergic to lettuce, it becomes a challenge to make salads!  Actually, Jim and I were just talking tonight about how we really don't miss lettuce now that I've come up with other salads.  I'll work on getting them all up here in the next couple of weeks - for now, here's my apple/beet salad recipe.  And I should mention that I am a beet convert!  This is actually really good and so pretty.

Also, with all the talk over the last week about arsenic and apple juice, I found a post on Consumer Reports Health that is quite interesting.

Apple/Beet Salad
serves 3 - 4

3 small beets, about 2 - 3 inches in diameter
1 apple, quartered and cored
2 T toasted sunflower seeds
1T lemon juice
1 T olive oil
About 1 T of fresh thyme leaves
Sea salt
White pepper

Cut the tops of the beets off leaving about 1 inch and boil until tender.  Cool and slip off the skins.

Grate the beets and apple pieces together.  Add the sunflower seeds and thyme leaves.  In a separate bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper.  Mix into the rest of the salad.  Serve warm (as is) or cold.